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The Vision of Future Cooperation between Korea and Mongolia in the New Northern Era: Cooperation Tasks and Practical Methods by Sector economic reform, political economy

Author Hong-Jin Kim, Bora Kim, Jung-Hoo Park, Wonsoo Yu, and Pyungrae Lee Series 20-05 Language Korean Date 2020.11.30

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   Mongolia is one of the world’s top 10 resource-rich countries, with high growth potential based on abundant mineral resources such as copper, gold and coal on its vast land, which is more than seven times the size of the Korean Peninsula. It has received much attention due to its geopolitical importance in Northeast Asia, and is actively promoting cooperation with the United States, Korea, Japan and European countries in addition to Russia and China. It is also expected to play a certain role in promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as a country of simultaneous diplomatic relations between the two Koreas. However, Mongolia has a population of around 3.3 million and its income level is not high, and thus the small market remains limited in size. As of 2019, Mongolia’s total GDP is about $14 billion, and per capita GDP at just over $4,200. There are also various constraints and difficulties in transportation as a land-locked country.
   Nevertheless, the strategic value and importance of Mongolia should be highly valued. The first reason is that the Mongolian economy has high potential for future development. Many international organizations predict that Mongolia will be able to achieve economic growth of around 6% annually in the future based on abundant resources. In terms of economic structure, resource-rich Mongolia and Korea, where technology and capital have a comparative advantage, can form a complementary relationship. Second, Mongolia has been regarded as a country that achieved political democratization since it switched to a market economy in 1990, and has been improving its international status through China-Mongolia-Russia cooperative relations. Northeast Asia is an area where the need to establish a multilateral peace and security system is growing. Strengthening friendly relations with Mongolia and sharing the vision of future cooperation are also in line with the direction that Korea’s New Northern Policy is pursuing. Third, Koreans and Mongolians share cultural friendliness and emotional bonds with each other. Currently, nearly 50,000 Mongolians in Korea form part of Korean society, and historically, they have called Korea “a country of rainbow” and expressed friendly sentiment. In Mongolia, interest in the Korean language is as high as that for English and Japanese, and the Korean Wave is also quite strong in popular culture. Emotional friendliness and amicable feeling are important factors as the basis for future cooperation between the two countries.
   Korea already accounts for a high proportion of Mongolia’s economy in terms of trade volume and direct investment. Mongolia is the second-largest ODA partner for Korea and continues to share the development experience of the Korean economy. With bilateral summits and high-level talks continuing since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two countries currently have a ‘comprehensive partnership’ and are seeking to upgrade to a “strategic partnership” in the future. Mongolian students studying in Korea rank third in terms of the size of foreign students, and they are growing as resources to take charge of the future of bilateral exchanges and cooperation. A group of Mongolian students studied in Korea, and many pro-Korean figures have organized a human network to assume the role of a channel for civilian diplomacy between the two countries.
   Under the global economic environment that has entered a low-growth era, Korea is pushing its New Northern Policy to seek new growth engines. Many of Korea’s main industries are now in their mature stages and need a new breakthrough, with northern countries likely to form complementary ties with the Korean economy due to their wide territory and abundant resources. Korea also needs to strengthen transnational multilateral cooperation with Eurasian countries to promote peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula amid geopolitical tensions and competition in Northeast Asia. Mongolia is an important partner in this situation which is highly likely to cooperate with Korea, has high demand for energy, is interested in the development experience of Korean economy, and shares mutual cultural familarity with Korea.
   In the 21st century, Mongolia once gained attention as it recorded rapid growth due to rising international resource prices. However, as the resource-based economy suffers from economic instability due to its limitations, the Mongolian government continues to push for an economic diversification policy. Mongolia established the “Long-Term Development Policy Vision 2050” in 2020, and is presenting the main goals and future plans that the country aims for. Many of the policies being pursued here are directly or indirectly in line with the direction of Korea’s New Northern Policy, and we should seek cooperation tasks to meet the demands of both countries and broaden the horizon for future cooperation. Given the policy direction that the two countries are pursuing, the vision of future cooperation between Korea and Mongolia is presented as an ‘Inclusive Shared Growth’ that will achieve peace and prosperity in the 21st century in Northeast Asia. This is because Mongolia is recognized as a member of the Northern Economic Community in the 21st century, and it is a country that needs comprehensive support from Korea while cooperating with each other.
   Marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Korea and Mongolia, the study was designed to explore future cooperation tasks and ways to realize them in each field. The purpose of this study, which takes the form of comprehensive regional research, is to analyze the achievements and limitations of Korea-Mongolia exchange cooperation in each field that has been carried out so far based on the cooperative environment between the two countries, and to present measures for finding and realizing cooperation tasks to overcome the problems and limitations that arise there.
   This research consists of seven chapters, including introduction and conclusion. The first section of Chapter I describes the background and necessity of the study, focusing on the strategic value and importance of Mongolia. Based on the common denominator of Korea’s New Northern Policy and Mongolia’s Long-term Development Policy, the two countries are setting the direction and vision for future cooperation. In the second section, the contents of the preceding study are reviewed and the contributions of this study are presented, focusing on the literature of Korean, English and Mongolian, and in the third section, the research methods and contents are explained.
   Chapter 2 deals with the characteristics of the Mongolian economy and the challenges in Korea-Mongolia economic cooperation. In the analysis of the economic cooperation environment for the first section, the contact point of the two countries’ economic cooperation is being sought first through the characteristics of Mongolia’s resource-based economy. To overcome the instability of the resource-based economy, Mongolia is pursuing an economic diversification policy, which could be an important point of contact for the bilateral economic cooperation. Also, the Mongolian economy has a good long-term growth outlook, which increases the possibility of future cooperation between the two countries. Section 2 analyzes the achievements and limitations of economic cooperation between the two countries in terms of trade and investment cooperation. Although Korea is one of Mongolia’s top five economic cooperation partners, there is still a limit to trade and investment volume, and Mongolia is looking for ways to improve the situation through the Mongolia-Japan EPA. Section 3 presents the vision of economic cooperation between the two countries as “Inclusive Shared Growth,” proposing the promotion of EPA and the establishment of a proper technology transfer center as a practical measure to promote economic cooperation.
   Chapter 3 deals with the tasks of Mongolia’s industrial policy and Korea-Mongolia industrial cooperation. The first section analyzes the cooperative environment between the two countries through analysis of Mongolia’s industrial structure and industrial policies, and analyzes the current status of Mongolia’s major industries such as mining, agriculture and livestock, manufacturing, and tourism. Mongolia’s “Long-Term Development Policy Vision 2050” suggests the direction of national industrial policy, which includes the selection of major strategic industries, including the fourth industrial revolution technology. Mongolia, with its vast national territory, values the development of specialized regional industries, and thus analyzing Mongolia’s regional industrial policies is also an important task in bilateral industrial cooperation. Section 2 analyzes the achievements and limitations of bilateral industrial cooperation, including Korea’s ODA. Although there are still many small and medium-sized investments to Mongolia, investment of large companies has also been on the rise recently, and the connection between the two countries’ industrial cooperation through ODA is also important. Section 3 examines the bilateral industrial cooperation tasks in Mongolia’s major industries and fourth industrial revolution technologies, and suggests measures such as boosting technical support, dialogue and cooperation channels, and strengthening the value chain of industrial cooperation.
   Chapter 4 deals with Mongolia’s political diplomacy and Korea-Mongolia cooperation tasks. The first section analyzes the political and diplomatic cooperation environment between the two countries through the analysis of Korea’s northern policy and the characteristics of Mongolia’s political diplomacy. Korea has been pursuing the Northern Policy since the late 1980s, and Mongolia is believed to have maintained its own important position under previous administrations. Mongolia operates under a dual-governance system and has a unique political system, and is considered to have a well-connected national security and foreign policy while pursuing a pragmatic diplomatic line of “The Third Neighbor Policy.” Section 2 deals with the achievements and limitations of bilateral cooperation in the political and diplomatic sectors, and the exchange and cooperation between the two governments have been developed repeatedly as summit diplomacy and high-level talks continue even amid regime changes. Section 3 deals with bilateral political and diplomatic cooperation projects, focusing on multilateral transnational projects, including participation in China-Mongolia-Russia linked projects, and plans to participate in the Northeast Asia Super Grid project.
   Chapter 5 explores approaches to expand human exchanges and cooperation between Korea and Mongolia. Section 1 examines the current status of human exchanges between the two countries and the environment of cooperation through analysis of the reasons for the expansion of human exchanges. The number of Mongolians living in Korea has reached 50,000, and Mongolian students studying in Korea have been on the rise. The reasons for their choosing Korea to study are also analyzed in various ways, including economic income and cultural friendliness. The number of Koreans visiting Mongolia has also increased significantly recently due to the demand for travel, and the Korean community in Mongolia continues to maintain its size. Section 2 presents quantitative and qualitative achievements of bilateral human exchanges, and analyzes the obstacles to expanding human exchanges. Human exchanges between the two countries are diversifying and deepening due to the establishment of pro-Korean organizations in Mongolia, active activities of Mongolian student organizations studied in Korea, and exchanges between Korean and Mongolian scholars. However, there are obstacles to be solved, such as visa problems, unregistered Mongolian residents in Korea, and a lack of airline availability. Also, by looking at examples of exchanges between Mongolia and Japan provides several implications for promoting exchanges between Korea and Mongolia. Section 3 deals with ways to promote bilateral human exchanges. First of all, measures such as an asymmetrical visa exemption system, the use of work-tourism visas, and an open-sky agreement are proposed as countermeasures against obstacles to human exchanges. Furthermore, to expand and diversify human exchanges between the two countries, the establishment and utilization of human networks and the establishment of a Korean center are comprehensively proposed.
   Chapter 6 deals with cooperation tasks in the Korean-Mongolian language and culture fields. The first section analyzes the cooperation environment between the two countries based on their understanding of Mongolian language and culture. The Mongolian language incorporates the traditional Mongolian nomadic culture, so understanding it will also help the two countries cooperate in the political and economic sectors. The Korean language has a deep linguistic relationship with the Mongolian language, too. The second section analyzes the achievements and problems of bilateral cooperation in language and culture through how Mongolian and Korean studies have been educated and studied in both countries, respectively. Korean is being selected as a major in many Mongolian universities, and Korean language education for the general public is also being activated through the King Sejong Institute. There are two universities in Korea that have established Mongolian programs as a major for their students, and research is also being activated to find the origin of Korean culture in the cultural field. In the third section, measures to promote language and cultural exchanges are discussed, including the establishment of a comprehensive Korean cultural platform, the strengthening of the excellent teacher dispatch system, and the expansion of the Mongolian cultural research support system.
   Chapter 7 presents the conclusion of the study and our suggestions. In Section 1 the main points of the study are summarized, establishing the vision for future cooperation between the two countries. Based on the vision of future cooperation, the second section presents major cooperation tasks and realization measures, such as tasks and measures to revitalize economic cooperation and industrial cooperation, political and diplomatic cooperation tasks and realization measures, and tasks and measures to promote human and cultural exchanges.
 


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